have been a handsome woman, had she taken the time to tame her wild, frizzy brown hair and found a pair of glasses that properly framed her expressive brown eyes. Even in our comparative human years, this woman was barely old enough to be my mother, and yet she was lecturing me as if she was about to take away our TV and dessert privileges.
“Galadriel, can you understand why Ophelia might feel upset and intruded upon when you use her toiletries without asking?”
I tried to restrain my eye roll as Tina used Brianna’s assumed name. I really did. But I failed.
“I didn’t even use that much of her stupid body wash.” Brianna huffed, blowing her dyed-black hair out of her slowly fading black eye.
I hissed, baring my still-elongated fangs at her. Brianna flinched back in the cheaply constructed chair, and I grinned, even as Sidney laid a firm hand on my shoulder.
“I shouldn’t have used it,” Brianna grumbled.
“And you’ll replace it,” Tina prompted.
“And I’ll replace it,” Brianna added, without any enthusiasm.
I gave her a simpering smile. “Wonderful. I’ll give you the address of my personal parfumeur. I would start saving your laundry quarters now.”
Even as Brianna turned a sickly shade of oatmeal, Tina turned her doe eyes on me. “And Ophelia, do you see how Galadriel might feel unsafe, living with someone who would break her ribs over bath products? Without apologizing?”
“It’s not like it won’t heal immediately,” I retorted.
Tina frowned at me.
I sighed. “I’m sorry that your stealing from me made me so angry that I broke your collarbone.”
“You broke her collarbone, too?” Tina exclaimed.
“I’m sorry I broke your collarbone and your ribs,” I amended.
Sidney snorted at my insincerity but covered his laugh with a cough.
Tina’s frown deepened. “Well, that was a special sort of nonapology.”
I smiled sweetly, sure that the end of this painful interview was coming soon.
“Galadriel, you can go back to your room now. Expect an invoice for your half of the broken bed and the desk.”
“But I didn’t!”
The whine from Brianna’s lips was only half-formed when Tina shot her a sharp look. “Sidney says you participated in the fight. Even after he separated you two and he was restraining Ophelia, you were swinging at her. If you want a lesser consequence, learn some self-control.”
Brianna rolled her eyes and huffed out the door. Sidney nodded to Tina and walked out after my roommate.
“Ophelia, of all the students I work with, you have given me the most trouble. And you’ve only been here a few weeks.”
“It’s so nice to be noticed.”
“Look, I know you’re used to running things the way you see fit. I know you’re used to getting your way, by nature of manipulating the people around you.”
“I also abused my power. It was one of my favorite parts of the job,” I admitted.
“But I also know you’re on pretty thin ice with the Council, and you don’t want to do anything to show them that you’re not taking your rehabilitation seriously.”
“What’s my sentence?” I asked.
Tina’s smile was practically crocodilian, a cold, sharp expression that didn’t correspond with the touchy-feely, ultrasensitive hugger I’d met at orientation. “You know, of course, that Undead American Awareness Week is coming up. The administration has asked the residents of New Dawn, the acknowledged campus home of vampire students, to host a party. Just a pleasant little mixer for the human and undead students to find common ground and build meaningful relationships. I think you and Brianna should arrange it—the food, the blood, the decorations, the music, everything. You’ll have use of the main lounge on the second sublevel. It is my hope that this combined effort will teach the two of you to get along well enough not to want to murder each other on sight.”
“Is this like those ‘buddy cop’ movies that were so popular in the nineteen seventies? Pairing up the young obnoxious rookie with the seasoned veteran, forcing them to appreciate their differences and, in the end, develop a rewarding, productive partnership?”
Tina pursed her lips. “No, it’s based on my having no interest in planning the party myself.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. Was Tina trying to out-delegate me? I’d been a vampire bureaucrat for more than three hundred years. No one out-delegated me.
But damned if I didn’t have to respect that just a little bit.
“Need I remind you that I’m required to submit a monthly report regarding your activities to Ms. Jameson-Nightengale? And that your behavior on campus could result in more serious consequences than what